What to cliffhanger and what not to cliffhanger? That was the question facing How to Get Away With Murder showrunner Pete Nowalk as he approached the Season 1 finale of his twisty, twisted mystery (airing tonight at 9/8c on ABC).

“I hope it’s not torturing the audience as much as it is keeping them questioning,” he explains of the path he ultimately took. “We knew from the beginning we really needed to show what happened to Lila. We saw how Sam got murdered, and now we needed to see the original murder. But there was a lot o...